When both parents work and are forced to find competent care for their children, it becomes necessary to not only make the appropriate arrangements but also to decide between center-based care and the attentions of a private, in-home childcare provider to determine which is best for your family as a whole. Before you pick up the phone to enroll your bundle of joy in the nearest daycare center, take the time to consider the impact of these 20 benefits nanny care has on kids.
- Individual Attention – Provider to child ratios in daycare can’t beat those that come with nanny care. When a provider is responsible for a room full of kids, yours may not be receiving the amount of individual attention they need and you desire. Because a nanny is responsible only for your children, it’s easier for her to ensure that they’re getting plenty of personalized and attentive care.
- Closer Supervision – When there are four adults looking after 20 children in a room, there’s bound to be a bit of a lapse in supervision from time to time. A nanny is able to watch kids more carefully and she’s never assuming that someone else is watching the kids.
- Caregiver Bonding – High turnover rates, room graduations and other changes at a daycare center can make it difficult for your child to bond with his caregiver. Being looked after by one nanny, however, allows him plenty of time to form bonds and learn to trust his nanny.
- Routine and Reliability – Kids thrive under a reliable routine, which is something a nanny can provide in a way that large, hectic daycare centers simply can’t compete with.
- Low-Stress Care Transition – Taking your child to daycare means waking him up early, rushing him to get ready and taking him out into the elements. When you pick him up, he’s stuck in traffic alongside you when he’s tired, hungry and ready to be home. Working with a nanny, however, allows you to simply leave in the morning and return in the evening, sparing your child the stress of a commute.
- Familiar Settings – Being able to spend the day in his own home, with his own toys and comfort objects, spares your child from the uncertainty and anxiety that can come when he’s left in a loud, unfamiliar one at a daycare center.
- Lower Germ Exposure – Kids who are cared for by a nanny may pick up the occasional cold through play dates, but they’re not consistently exposed to the same level of germs that they’d encounter in a daycare center.
- Education and Certifications – When you choose a nanny for your child, you’re in control of ensuring that she has the certifications and education level that you want for your little one. In a daycare center setting, you’re essentially stuck with the people the administrators have chosen to hire.
- Sick Child Care – You will not be able to leave a sick child at daycare, which means that days when he’s sick can be even more stressful for your child as you scramble for alternatives. A nanny, however, will generally provide sick child services, maintaining the routine he’s used to at a time when he’s uncomfortable and unhappy.
- Development at Her Own Schedule – Your child may be forced to give up a favorite comfort object, make the transition to solid food or start potty training before she’s ready to at a daycare center with strict policies. Because you will be able to control the timeline through your nanny, your child will be able to develop at her own pace under a nanny’s care.
- Consistent Rules and Guidance – Daycare center workers quit or move to other rooms, and each childcare provider is different in such a setting. That means that your child may not be exposed to clear and consistent boundaries, or that she may be expected to follow rules far different from those you would choose for her. That’s not the case with a nanny, who will work with you to develop a plan and stick to it for the sake of consistency.
- Limiting Exposure to Questionable Influences – You can choose the daycare center your children attend, but you can’t choose the peers that they’ll encounter there or the providers who will be looking after them. When your child is looked after by a nanny, you know that she’s not being exposed to questionable influences.
- More Financial Security – When parents are less stressed, it affects kids in very real ways. Daycare can actually be more expensive than nanny care when you have more than one child needing care, which can leave the family strapped for cash and can negatively affect the kids.
- Easier Parental Oversight – The amount of control you have over the practices of a daycare is limited, which is not the case when you hire a nanny. Your kids will benefit from your ability to control their care experience, rather than being subjected to the whims of daycare workers and administrators.
- Specialized Skill Sets and Training – If you want your children to learn French while they’re being watched by a nanny, you can hire a bilingual nanny. Budding musicians can take lessons from a nanny who’s musically inclined. There are a variety of specialized skill sets available through nanny care, which is almost never the case at even the best daycare centers.
- Sibling Bonding – Unless your children are very close in age, there’s a good chance that they’ll be separated into different groups at daycare. When they’re home all day with a nanny, they’re also spending time with one another and bonding in a way that might be more difficult if they were in separate rooms at a daycare center.
- Milestone Assistance – A private, in-home childcare provider can help your little one reach important milestones like talking, walking or potty training on a level that simply can’t be replicated in a boisterous, hectic daycare center.
- Controlled Socialization – When your nanny takes your child on play dates, you know who he’s spending time with and can ensure that your nanny is looking for signs of over-stimulation. At a daycare center, he will be constantly surrounded by dozens of other children, with no way to remove himself from an over-stimulating situation.
- Special Needs Care – Kids with special needs require more attention than even the best daycare center can provide. That’s one of the areas where specially trained nannies shine, ensuring that your child is looked after in just the way she needs to thrive.
- Allergen and Food Sensitivity Awareness – When there are dozens of kids to feed, concerns about allergy information can fall to the wayside or be disregarded. If one food allergy isn’t properly communicated, your child could be affected. A nanny who cares for your child every day, however, knows what foods and triggers are off limits and how to manage allergies or sensitivities.
